Line-tightener



(No Model.)

A. B. FRACK.

LINE TIGHTBNER.

No. 530,035. Patented Nov. 27, 1894.

e Z zct I [HI/512217.-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED B. FRAOK, OF GIRARD, OHIO.

LINE-TIGHTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,035, dated November 27, 1894. Application filed December 30,1893. Serial No. 495,271. lNo model.)

To (Ml whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED B; FRACK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Girard, in the county ofTrumbull and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Line-Tighteners; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of my invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

The object of my invention is a convenient, and improved means for tightening a slack cord or rope between its points of attachment, especially adapted to that purpose for clotheslines in laundry use.

It consists in certain novel features that will be especially pointed out, and which do away with defects in other appliances for the purpose stated.

In the drawings Figure l is a front elevation view of my line tightener with the key K in place, as in use. Fig. 2 is asimilar side view of the same with the key K in place as when not in use. Fig. 3 is the same view as at Fig. l. but showing a section of line therein; and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the key K.

Parts are indicated by letters and similar letters refer to similar parts in all of the views.

I make the body of my line tightener preferably of maleable iron, although a very good one may be made of suitable wood, in which case screw-eyelets or staples are used for the rings 9 that hold the key K in place against the body of the tightener.

The body B of my device is integral and consists of a handle, a drum, and a head, in alignment.

The handle a is preferably rectangular, of suitable size for a convenient handle and for the sufficiently deep rectangular socket b that appears in its lower end to receive the end of a pole, when the use of a pole is required.

The drum 0, seen immediately above the handle a, is a round portion on which the line is wound, and is of small diameter and of length sufficient to take up the slack usually found in a loaded clothes-line.

The head d, located immediately above the drum 0, is in form a short section of the handle a. It has the central transverse rightangular groove or slot eacross the top of suitable breadth and depth to receive and retain the line, the lower corners that would otherwise be formed by such slot-being cut away upon curved lines, so that, by the rotation of the body, the line within the slot e is guided onto the drum, similarly on each side, whereby the line upon both sides of the tightener is wound around the drum simultaneously. At a suitable point on the handle a, and upon opposite sides of the head d, and similarly upon opposite sides of the handle a near the drum, those upon the same side in alignment, are the rings g, similar to screw eyelets or staples used in a body of wood, fora purpose that will presently appear.

The key K is to hold the line upon the drum against unwinding when line tightening has been effected. It is formed of a rod of suitable length, is held against the handle a of the body by a ring g, and at a suitable point is bifurcated right and left, the branches extending to the edges of the handle a, thence turned inward extending to a point midway of the handle side, and thence turned upward extending far enough so that when the horizontal portions impinge the rings 9 on the handle near the drum their upper ends will have passed through the rings 9 that are on the sides of the head d, which is the position of the key K when holding the line from unwinding which it does by resisting the pressure of the line against its branches, which pressure also prevents it from dropping downward. The ring g, through which passes the main stem of the key K is so located that when the key Kdrops downward the ends of its branches barely extend above the rings 9 of the handle near the drum.

My invent-ion will now be understood and 7 its advantages for the purpose stated Willbeand adapted to he slid in said guides across the drum, to retain the line in the required position, substantially as described.

2. A line tightener comprising a handle having a transversely grooved head and a drum, rings on the head and handle constituting keepers, and a key adapted to be positively engaged with the said keepers near the ends of the drum, substantially as specified.

3. The herein specified line tightener, comprising a handle constructed to be adjusted to a pole, and having a transversely grooved head and a drum contiguous to and between 

